Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T04:46:52.693Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

African Tourist Encounters: Effects of Tourism on Two West African Societies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Walter E. A. van Beek
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article compares encounters with tourism in two African communities, the Dogon in Mali and the Kapsiki in north Cameroon. The societies are comparable in many respects, but the effects on them of the tourist presence quite different. The Dogon react to tourism by bolstering their cultural pride and self esteem, and they develop inventive ways of gearing their cultural performances to tourist demands without compromising the rituals to which the performances belong. For them, the tourist presence signals the importance and intrinsic interest of Dogon culture. The Cameroonian Kapsiki (called Higi in north Nigeria) interpret the attention bestowed upon them and their country as indicating that they are marginal, living at the rim of the habitable world. They translate the tourist quest for ‘authenticity’ as being ‘backward’ and left out. The reasons for these different reactions are traced to processes inherent in cultural tourism, to the specific agenda of tourism in either place, and to some characteristics of the host '. The overall effect of tourist encounters with local communities seems to be to reinforce existing patterns of identity construction and to restate the images of the relevant ‘other’ already current in those cultures.

Résumé

Cet article est une comparaison entre les rencontres avec des touristes dans deux communautés africaines, les Dogon du Mali et les Kapsiki du Cameroun septentrional. Les deux sociétés sont bien comparables, mais l'impact du tourisme est assez différent. Pour les Dogon, la présence touristique renforce leur estime culturelle de soi, or ils ont développé des ingénieuses adaptations de leur performances culturelles aux exigences touristiques, sans compromettre le contenu religieux de ces rites. Pour les Dogon, le rencontre avec les touristes montre l'importance et la fascination évidente de leur culture. Les Kapsiki du Cameroun (au Nigeria ils se nomment Higi) interprètent l'attention touristique dans le ‘Pays Kapsiki’ comme signe de marginalité, de vivre au bout du monde. Ils traduisent la quête touristique pour l'authenticité africaine comme signale d'exclusion et de manque de développement. Les raisons pour ces différentes réactions sont trouvées dans les processus que ce genre de tourisme culturel engendre, dans les buts spécifiques du tourisme vers ces deux endroits, et dans des caractéristiques des deux ' en question. En général, le rencontre touristique avec des communautés locales semble renforcer des processus de construction identitaire existantes et justifier les images de l'autre déjà en force dans ces cultures.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 73 , Issue 2 , May 2003 , pp. 251 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abbink, J. 2000. ‘Tourism and its discontents: Suri-tourist encounters in southern Ethiopia’, Social Anthropology 8 (1): 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bedaux, R. M. A. 1999. ‘“Rendez-nous notre bélier”: het behoud van cultureel erfgoed in Mali’. Inaugural lecture, University of Leiden.Google Scholar
Beek, W. E. A. van. 1987. The Kapsiki and Higi of the Mandara Mountains. Prospect Heights IL: Waveland Press.Google Scholar
Beek, W. E. A. van. 1988. ‘Functions of sculpture in Dogon religion’, African Arts 21 (4): 58–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beek, W. E. A. van. 1991. ‘Dogon restudied: a field evaluation of the work of Marcel Griaule’, Current Anthropology 32 (2): 139–67.Google Scholar
Beek, W. E. A. van. 1992. ‘Slave raiders and their people without history’, in: , J.Abbink, and , H.Vermeulen, (eds), History and Culture: Essays on the Work of Eric R. Wolf Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis.Google Scholar
Beek, W. E. A. van. 2000. ‘Echoes of the future’, Foe aal 35: 29–52.Google Scholar
Beek, W. E. A. van. 2001. The Dogon: Africa's People of the Cliffs (with photographs by S. Hollyman). New York: Abrams.Google Scholar
Bouju, J. 1995. ‘La statuaire dogon au regard de l'anthropologue’, Dogon : catalogue d'une exposition. Paris: Dapper Museum.Google Scholar
Boyer, P. 1990. Tradition as Truth and Communication: a Cognitive Description of Traditional Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Britton, S. G. 1989. ‘Tourism, dependency and development: a mode of analysis’, in , T. V.Singh, , , L.Theuns, and , M.Go, (eds), Towards Appropriate Tourism: the Case of Developing Countries. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Brimer, E. M. 1995. ‘Maasai on the lawn: tourist realism in East Africa’, Cultural Anthropology 9 (4): 435–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, P. M. 1999. An Introduction to Tourism and Anthropology. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Butler, R. and Hinch, , T. 1996. Tourism and Indigenous Peoples. London: International Thomson Business Press.Google Scholar
Chambers, E. (éd.). 1997. Tourism and Culture: an Applied Perspective. Buffalo NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Chon, Kye-Sung. 1989. ‘Understanding recreational travellers’ motivation, attitude and satisfaction’, Tourist Review 44 (1): 3–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chon, Kye-Sung. 1990. ‘The role of destination image in tourism: a review and a discussion’, Tourist Review 45 (2): 2–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, E. 1988. ‘Authenticity and commoditization in tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research 15: 467–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corbey, R. 1989. Wildheid en beschaving: de Europese verbeelding van Afrika. Baarn: Ambo.Google Scholar
Crick, M. 1989. ‘Representations of international tourism in the social sciences’, Annual Review of Anthropology 18: 307–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dieke, P. 1999. The Political Economy of Tourism in Africa. Elmsford NY: Cognizant Communication Corporation.Google Scholar
Firat, A.Fuat., 1989. ‘Tourism marketing and development: structural constraints facing underdeveloped countries’, in , T. V.Singh, , L.Theuns, and , M.Go, (eds), Towards Appropriate Tourism: the Case of Developing Countries. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Gamble, W. P. 1991. Tourism and Development in Africa. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Go, F. M. 1989. ‘Appropriate marketing for travel destinations in developing nations’, in , T. V.Singh, , L.Theuns, and , M.Go, (eds), Towards Appropriate Tourism: the Case of Developing Countries. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Hall, C. M. 1994. Tourism and Politics: Policy, Power and Place. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Heijden, K.van der., 1995. ‘Beelden van Afrika. Beeldvorming van Nederlandse toeristen over Afrika’. M.A. thesis, Faculty of Social Sciences University of UtrechtGoogle Scholar
Horner, A. E. 1993. ‘Tourist arts in Africa before tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research 20 (1): 52–63.Google Scholar
Jules- Rosette, B. 1984. The Messages of Tourist Art: an African Semiotic System in Comparative Perspective. New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kadt, E. de. 1976. Tourism: Passport for Development? London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lane, P. 1988. ‘Tourism and social change among the Dogon’, African Arts 21 (4): 66–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanfant, M-F. 1995. ‘International tourism, internationalization and the challenge to identity’, in , M-F.Lanfant, , J. B.Allcock, and , E. M.Bruner, (eds), International Tourism: Identity and Change. London: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lea, J. 1988. Tourism and Development in the Third World. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
MacCannell, D. 1992. Empty Meeting Grounds: the Tourist Papers. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Meijer, W. G. 1989. ‘Rucksacks and dollars: the economic impact of organized and non-organized tourism in Bolivia’, in , T. V.Singh, , , L.Theuns, and , M.Go, (eds), Towards Appropriate Tourism: the Case of Developing Countries. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Nash, D. 1981. ‘Tourism as an anthropological subject’, Current Anthropology 22 (5): 461–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nash, D. 1996. Anthropology of Tourism. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Panella, C. 2002. Les Terres cuites de la discorde : déterrement et écoulement des terres cuites anthropomorphes du Mali. Leiden: CNWS.Google Scholar
Pern, S.Alexander, B. and Beek, , W. E. A. van. 1983. Masked Dancers of West Africa: the Dogon. New York: Time-Life.Google Scholar
Sindiga, I. 1999. Tourism and African Development: Change and Challenge of Tourism in Kenya. Aldershot: Ashgate/ASC.Google Scholar
Singh, T. V.Theuns, , L. and Go, , M. (eds). 1989. Towards Appropriate Tourism: the Case of Developing Countries. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Smith, V. L. (éd.). 1989. Hosts and Guests: the Anthropology of Tourism second edition. Oxford: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[WTO] Smith, V. L. and Eadington, , W. R. 1994. Global Tourism Forecasts to the Year 2000 and Beyond, II Africa. Madrid: World Tourism Organisation.Google Scholar
[WTO] Smith, V. L. and Eadington, , W. R. 1998. Monograph on Travel and Tourism in Africa. Madrid: World Tourism Organisation.Google Scholar
[WTO] Smith, V. L. and Eadington, , W. R. 1999. Tourism Market Trends: Africa, 1989-1999. Madrid: World Tourism Organisation.Google Scholar
Urry, J. 1985. The Tourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Walther, O. 2001. Stratégies et dynamiques spatiales du tourisme chez les Dogon du Mali. Mémoire de licence, University of Lausanne.Google Scholar
Wolf, E. 1982. Europe and the People without History. Berkeley CA, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press.Google Scholar